Study Warns of Insect Armageddon

Feb 11, 2019

A troubling new study warns that the world's insect population is rapidly declining and the entire planet could be in peril as a result. The worrisome research project reportedly found that the total number of bugs across the globe is dropping by around 2.5% each year. While this may not initially sound like a significant amount, scientists behind the project, which examined a whopping 73 different papers on the topic, say that insect species are going extinct at a rate eight times faster than their more sizeable counterparts like mammals and birds.

This turn of events is particularly concerning because insects are a critical component of the planet's ecosystem since they not only provide food for a vast number of animals, but also serve as pollinators for vegetation. As such, the researchers who put together the new study cautioned that the widespread extinction of these creatures would be "catastrophic to say the least" as it would have a cascading effect in which even more animals would be threatened due to the loss of sustenance and, ultimately, the human population would be profoundly impacted as well.